Sunday, July 30, 2006

Every once in a while we receive a free offer to stay in one of the local hotels.. which is affiliated with a casino. And so, why not? :) But instead of staying there and losing my last $3.75 which is the casino's plan, we just stay there and hang out with the kids. Monkey brought one of his neighborhood buddies, and while we were waiting for the rest of the crew.. they played "LET'S JUMP FROM ONE BED TO THE NEXT AND MAKE A LOT OF NOISE!!!"...

That's normal kids stuff, right? I'm sure I'll get a nasty email from the guests in the surrounding rooms on what a hanyat my son is.. but regardless, they had a great time. My friend from up North came down with her kids, and we all went to the pool. She and her hub went home, and so I had a room full of insane children. We ordered room service and paid way too much for on-demand movies.. but oh well. I'm completely irresponsible.

It was fun though, we were on the 'suite' level. You had to have a special key in the elevator to even get it to go to that floor. HOWEVER, we were in the ONLY normal room on that floor. I think it might have been the servants quarters, or possibly a renovated closet. And I'm sure those SUITE dwellers didn't much appreciate my hooligan children. The view was beautiful, though, and we did ask nicely for a beautiful view :)

Thursday, July 27, 2006

So, Hasen is a Dwarf Lion Head Bunny. But, am I wrong in calling him a Dwarf?? Should I be calling him ... a petite bunny? A wee bunny? Size challenged?? Am I hurting his little fluffy feelings?? When people ask, "What kind of rabbit is that?".. what do I say?!?! I don't want Hasen getting mad at me.. forming a union or sending me nasty emails. What is the PC term for 'dwarf'? Munchkin bunny?

Here Hasen is hanging out in his loft apartment in the sky. He's so cute when he's sleeping, he kicks out his front and back legs. I think he parties a bit much when I'm not in the office watching him.

Sunday, July 23, 2006

I was taking a break, and cruised by Ryan's blog.. and noticed he was talking about his fridge. And it made me laugh.. look and you'll see why :) And it made me think of a friend of mine, Tracy, and her obsession with what people have in their refrigerators. It was funny, anytime she would come over she loved to just look in the fridge. Not that she was an obsessive eating machine, she just thought it said a lot about the person? She loved going to my sister's house, she has so much stuff in there.. you need assistants to open it. It's crazy.

So I thought I'd challenge y'all to post your fridgelets :) And we'll figure out what it tells us about you. I think mine says.. I'm just dull :)

For starters, most of it is low carb.. we try to stick to a low carb diet when we can (giggle). However, I do get a break considering a couple things I bought for my guests lastnight. Dean's French Onion dip, it is the best. Whipped cream cheese. 2 green peppers. Half of a cantaloupe. 4 German bratwurst.. not the American kind, but the real white German ones. My dad gives them to me.. he loves them. Behind those things on the top shelf, usually pickles, relish, various sauces. Second shelf, 3 bottles of Crystal Light .. we call it 'red'. Now I can't even think of the proper name, but I do know if I don't have at least 2 bottles of it in the house I become hostile. And a bottle of Crystal Light orange sunrise.. or something like that. Not as necessary as RED. Some wines and champagnes. Milk for the monkey. And some bottles of Smirnoff Green Machine. Bought those, and the others on the next shelf, for the Girls Scout momma's. Lightweights, only drank like 3 of them. They demanded Mikes Hard Green Apple, or something like that? Of course it was out of stock. I can only do so much :) .. of course the next shelf would be eggs.. and next to it there is usually a case of Diet Coke. But hubster is out of town right now, so I haven't stocked up on more yet. And the bottom are meats. For a fast meal, we love those Tyson pre-cooked meats. Pork roast or Beef pot roast. They are low carb, and low sugar. Done in 5 minutes, and they really are quite good. High in sodium... but you can't win them all :) And they last forever, and don't require freezing. The door would be cheese cheese cheese, then heavy whipping cream. Another of our low carb/sugar favs :) If you mix 1/2 of a box of Jell-O sugar free chocolate instant pudding, with heavy whipping cream, and then mix it up to a whipping cream texture... MAN is it good. It's like chocolate mousse, but without all of the sin :) A variety of dressings. I love Ranch, but the Athenos feta one rocks, and there is another good one... I believe it's Ken's Italian with aged Romano. And then the bottom would be a Pina Colada mix, but I don't know how to make them :) And Hellmans, because I can't live without it. Mustard, Parmesan.. and that's about it. I know, I know... the freezer. WHAT IS IN THE FREEEEEZERRRR!!???? Body parts.

How thrilling, eh? Well, I'm just procrastinating doing dishes. So... going to do dishes now :)

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Yesterday morning I was stepping out onto the back deck to let the beasts out, and pop-squish... I stepped on something very grotesque. I was afraid to look, and just sort of walked it off across the deck.. trying not to hurl. When I looked back, it was one of those huge loud cicadas. I always called them locusts, but Mr tells me they're cicadas. BLECH!! One had committed suicide in the dog water bowl, and I think the other was hanging out next to the bowl .. missing his friend? And I squashed him. I'm not sure which one was having the crappier day.. the drowned one or the depressed and squished one! Then I had to go and clean my foot out in the tub, because there were unknown intestinal things stuck between my toes. Flippin' bugs.

Today I mopped the kitchen floor. Am I the only one that loves the smell of original Pine-Sol? Seriously, I used to love mopping when I was a kid, just so I could dump the Pine-Sol into the hot water and InHaLe!! Perhaps that is what's wrong with me now?? But Monkey walked into the kitchen, "That smells good!". I see that whole apple falling from the tree expression is true :)

Tonight we have Girl Scouts camping out on our living room floor. My friend from up North is taking her little scouts to see a play tonight.. they're actually in town all day. And instead of driving home late, they're going to crash here. It will be sleeping bag mayhem :) Gosh, I wonder how many emails I will get tomorrow on what a crappy son I have? Can't wait. He's SO excited that he will have so many little girls he can abuse and mistreat tonight. It's like Christmas all over again... but in a more dark-sided way. Perhaps someone should call the Girl Scouts headquarters and warn them of my Satanic music and porn that I make the kids watch??!?!?! PORN FOR EVERYONE!!! WOO-HOO!!!!! Hey, is there a Girl Scout badge for watching porn? Perhaps for practicing foul language? A 'Mouth of a Truck Driver' badge maybe? I'm going to make some up now. I'll pass the badges out with the 'Debbie does Dallas' DVD's as they leave in the morning. Yes... that's what I'll do! But on a serious side, I did stock up on every kind of junk food possible. Isn't that required at a sleep over? And I think we'll watch that new movie 'Aquamarine'.. about the mermaid? The child in me has been wanting to see that.

And no, Daya, we're not REALLY watching porn. So you need to cancel that flight. GOSH! You're just impossible :) I made those comments because of the email I got last week.. remember?

Thursday, July 20, 2006

So lastnight I decided to OD on some ibuprophen so I could get some sleep. Which is never a good idea, as it gives me the crappiest dreams. Although I don't usually remember them. But in one I had Hasen the Bunny and Roscoe the big red dog outside.. why I would do something so moronic I have no idea. Roscoe was pulling to the left of a building, and Hasen jumped out of my hands to the right. So I managed to snag his back foot.. thinking for SURE he wouldn't go anywhere while I had a great grip on his big back foot. And I was looking to the left.. I was on the corner of a building.. yelling at Roscoe to quit pulling. And I was yelling for my husband to come and help me reel in the wild beasts. But then I looked to my right again, and Hasen had managed to pull himself completely to the other corner of the building.. but his foot was still being held between my fingers?!?!??! I freaked out and immediately let go of his foot, and it snapped back towards him like a measuring tape. Finally my husband took the dog, and I ran over to find the rabbit. He had tucked himself into a small hole, but came to me when he saw me. And his foot was all broken and saggy... and my stomach just sank. It was horrifying, that it could even happen and that I did it. And I get that feeling that I had done something I couldn't un-do to my poor little bunny. Bleh! I hate those dreams! And you wake up feeling like complete shit.. which was not the idea anyway by OD'n on Ibuprophen. So, that was a flop. But you'll all be happy to know.. Hasen is just fine :)

I was cleaning his cage a couple days ago, and he likes to explore my desk. I guess bunnies like paper bags, because he didn't leave it. In this photo he was kicked back and relaxing.. his back legs were pushed all the way back. It's so cute when he does that :) And sitting next to him would be one of his sesame seed balls.. he will kill you for one of those :)

Monday, July 17, 2006

For Chalice :) This is Roscoe. He came with the name. We were worried at first that we might have to return him, he was a bit hot tempered. He growled at Monkey a few times. But, he's actually great. He had belonged to someone else, they gave him up after a year. The paperwork only said he was 'rude'. ?? And that he chased animals. We didn't tell Hasenfeffer though, because he's a chase-able bunny :) Roscoe has managed to lick Hasen quite a few times through the cage.. his little bunny fur gets all wet. But he doesn't realize that the cage is saving his life :) When he's on the floor running around, he just climbs over Tara. It's very funny. But, at any rate, this is Roscoe! He has already been taught to play ball and frisbee. He's pretty fun, and so pretty! Part chow and lab or something.

This is what I have to deal with :) This morning while typing, Roscoe decided he wanted to crawl into one of his favorite places... which is basically the small space under my desk and on my feet. And then Monkey wanted to join him. So when I roll my office chair back, this is the chaos under my desk. They're so goofy :) If I ever have to get a real job and sit at a real desk, I could STILL take them to work with me :)

So now I find that I'm second-guessing what type of parent I am. And I'm more pissed about that, than the whole insulting my child email. You grow up with certain types of parents, usually not the best, and you tell yourself that the things they did wrong are things you will definitely not do when you grow up. And of course you grow up and think, "I'm not such a bad person, did my parents actually do a better job than I thought?". But they didn't. I like to think Monkey Boy is already the type of person he will be when he grows up. He is crazy, and silly. He likes to sing, and is very creative. He draws beautiful pictures, and creates some great things with Lego. He is compassionate with our animals, he loves them and helps me take care of them. He plays ball with his new dog Roscoe and they both run rampant in the back yard. When we went to the shelter, he actually got upset because there was an older dog there with a very hoarse bark. He cried. When I could finally get him to explain, "I want to adopt that dog... he's sick and they'll put him to sleep if we don't!" When in school, he does great. They have a daily color system in the school, each day he comes home with a color which indicates the type of day he has had. Green being the best, then there are 3 other colors ... blue, yellow and red. For the whole last school year (1st grade) he only had 2 days of blue, and the rest were green. And I remember those 2 days, because when he gets off the bus he cries.. because he knows he did something bad. And usually, when we would get him to explain what happened, it was just some silly talking in class issue where a friend asked about an eraser or pencil. He's so shy, he never talks over the teacher, or tries to explain what happened. But how bad can he be if he does so well at school? All of the reports and teachers meetings.. they all came back great. The teacher really liked him, and said he was a great kid.

Beta sent me a personal email, I've known her since middle school. She mentioned that she noticed I didn't reprimand him in front of others, but didn't realize I had an issue with doing it. Versus the neighbor, who will reprimand her kids and husband no matter who is around. And I don't mean 'stop it' kind of stuff...I'll do that, but serious heated discussion kind of stuff. In growing up, I didn't have the best parents.. but I love them now. My Father was very verbally abusive. He lost his father when he was 6, and then grew up during the war... moving from France to Switzerland and bascially had to grow up very quickly. His parenting abilities were a bit screwed up. He would yell at me in front of many people (we had a restaurant) calling me everything from fat and lazy, to stupid. And those were the nice things. And he was so explosive about it. I can still remember how I felt to this day, and I cried a lot. And I always hated that sympathetic look people would give me, because I knew they knew my Dad was being an ass... and that made it even worse. And so it's just something I feel strong about. I never yell at Monkey in front of other people. I will tell him to stop doing something, and I will explain why he should. And I will yell if I have to, when there aren't people around. I do have my limits :) But now I'm angry that others... others that feel public discipline is necessary... might find this as a weakness. It's not. It's me. It's how I operate, and who I am. And I don't like to create a scene when it comes to disciplining my child. I don't think it's necessary, and I think it's rude to force the people around you to watch.

So now I'm pissed and insecure. I have asked my Mother what she thinks of Monkey. My step-father. My brother, and my sister. They don't understand what I'm going on about, they think I'm strange now :) I've posted my previous comment hoping that maybe I can feel better about the type of parent I am.. but I know most of you really can't be the judge. And I'm basically upset. And I'm not going to get past it. As many of you have mentioned, my neighbor has said some stuff that she isn't going to be able to take back. And if we worked it out, I would forever be apprehensive around her. There wouldn't be a comfort level again that we had before, because now I feel that it was all false to start with.

I guess had it been some stranger that came up to me and said, "Your child has no respect for others. His attitude stinks. He is selfish!".. I wouldn't have cared. But since it was a supposedly great friend, that I hung out with all the time.. it's just hurtful and cruel. Day 3? And I'm not getting past it. I'm working hard just trying not to dwell on it.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

So yesterday was a really shitty day for me. And I know that the person that ruined it sometimes reads my blog, but I don't care. This is my blog and I created it so that I could go on-and-on about things that affect my life. And she has definitely done that.

Do you have any of those 'friends' in you life that feel is their job to inflict their opinions and views on you? This was something I actually liked about her. That she was a strong person, able to stand on her own 2 feet. You could talk about things, and she didn't just agree.. she had an opinion. But this time she has gone too far and insulted Monkey Boy. With a smile, even. I know Monkey isn't perfect, I'm not one of those 'not my child' parents. But he's 7. And he's growing into his skin. And he's testing his limits. He becomes very jealous of said friend's daughter, and I have been trying to work it out. But at the same time, said friend's daughter provokes him. So, I am going to post the email she sent me yesterday.. and the following responses. And if you guys have any opinions, let me know. Mainly if you think that I am being one of those parents that thinks my kid is perfect, then enlighten me. But I'm so pissed off that I can't stand it. I got about 30 minutes of sleep lastnight just festering over how someone could be so rude and say such things about the CHILD of a FRIEND!

I know it's a lot of reading. You guys don't have to read it, I know I hate anything which consists of more than 8 words. But, I feel 100% better just getting it out of my system. Names will just be first initials. MB: Monkey Boy A: Her Daughter G: Her Son C: Her Husband T: Her

This was my Good Morning yesterday:Okay I am a little frustrated and thought I should let you know. So if you have seen us withdrawing this is why.... I feel like you are a very protective parent, which is good. You protect your child from speeding cars and potentiual pedophiles etc. You make sure he is safe and I know you love him. But I do not see you imparting values or respect in him. Respect for other people. MB is about MB. What MB wants. How MB feels. He does not have respect for other people or things. He "does not care" and his attitude stinks. I look at it as, I have two options. Act like everything is fine or choose not to be around it. I can't tell you how to raise your child, that is your responsibility, and it is not my job to discipline him. But I can choose what behaivor I or my children am around. So if you see us withdrawing that is why. That is why C did not go watch fireworks Saturday. He did not want to be stuck in the car with MB acting like a hanyat with no consequences (plus he is not that big into fireworks and had other things to do). MB did really well in the car that day but there are those times that he just can't keep his hands to himself or is screetching in everyone's ear and your response was "MB you keep on singing buddy:)" In other words... MB you do what you want to do regardless of how it affects everyone else. Well the rest of the world does not revolve around MB. And his jeolously towards A is a constant battle. She will bring it to you and you do nothing. You say "I can't make him stop". But when you have had enough you say "MB keep it up and you won't have friends over" Or "No more X-box". ???It boils down to respect and care for other people. MB can pick and bug other people and you can do or not do anything about it but at some point the other people have to decide what they will or will not tolerate. That is where we are at. So if you are wondering why we are not coming down as much that is why. I don't mean to dump a load on you. I don't think he is a demon child or the spawn of satan. I think he is a good kid. He just needs to be corrected in love on occasion with real consequences and taught to respect other people. I am not asking you to beat your kid. And I know you love him. I am asking you to understand another perspective in how his behaivor affects other people. That's all. I have been chewing over how to deal with this and I woke up this morning and just felt it was time to say something. This has just been bugging me for awhile and I felt like I needed to let you know. I think you are a beautiful person and are a lot of fun to be around. I hope this doesn't change our relationship in a bad way. "Our children" can be a very sensative subject. :) And I hope there isn't anything in this email that is to harsh.With love, T p.s. A still wants to do your scanning. She's worried you may not want her to if I send this email. :)

And yes, I put that one section in bold.. it reminds me of why I'm so incredibly angry. And no, A did not come down to do work for me. Does it make sense that she would even want to send her child into this den of inequity after sending an email like that?? Who does that??? So I replied:

T,That's fine, I understand. I know MB is getting un-ruly. Am I going to hit him? No. He's starting to test his limits, and what he can or can not get away with. We will handle it. Do I want to yell at my child in front of other people? No. I don't believe in humiliating him in front of his friends or adults. I am feeling what annoyed you lastnight is that when A came into the living room I understood her to say that they were both playing with their walkie-talkies too close and making the beep loudly. But if it was just MB, I think he just becomes frustrated that when your kids come down they are glued to the TV. He wants to play, and they want him to shut up so they can watch a movie. I've heard it myself when they were in the living room, they literally yell at him. I invite them down to play, not to sit on the couch and watch TV for hours. There have often been times MB is outside playing, while G is glued to the XBox. I do believe in respect for others, but at the same time that doesn't mean he has to kneel and bow to everything they want him to do when they walk into the door. I believe they should be treating each other equally.

And I don't know how to deal with all of these issues you have now suddenly dropped on me. The hitting in the car, did you not tell C to stop because he was also encouraging it? And you are correct, I did tell him he could sing. He wasn't screeching, he was singing. And it wasn't that loud. When he is screaming, I do tell him to stop. Do you think that I enjoy every 10 seconds A screeching, "G STOP IT!!!" ... "JUST STOP IT!!!!!!!!!!!!"?? The sudden hostile screaming makes me want to shoot someone. Your kids are sweet, but they're not perfect either. We just ignore it and move on, because they ARE kids. They're not adults, they're going to be who they are as they develop into better people. Perhaps you're just used to your own kids' unruly behavior, and not his, and so MB is the 'hanyat' in this situation? I have things I don't like, never talked about, perhaps today is the day. I know some are off subject, but I want to just let you know that we all have our times of just "saying nothing":1. I was extremely uncomfortable the day you, A and I went to Petsmart. It was just before Father's Day and you were talking about how they didn't have cards that said, "You're never there" or "Thanks for not being there when I needed you" or about support or something. In front of A. I think that if you want to teach your daughter to have no respect for her father, then you're on the right track. I don't find C to be a bad father, and I think that the message you're sending is the opposite when he's not around.2. I am uncomfortable when your daughter goes on and on about how she wishes she could break your cell phone and computer so that you would just spend time with her. Telling me that she has asked for even 20 minutes in a day, and you put her off. She feels you would rather play games on your PC than spend time with her. Or when we would scrapbook, she would say, "I wish my mother would do this with me" and she wanted you to come down, too. It's part of the reason I stopped, I felt like I was making it worse. I just do my projects alone now.3. The day C was on the floor in front of my desk, and you were in the chair next to him. You were talking about putting a roof on a house and he said, "I like how she says 'us'" and you flipped out. I thought you were going to hit him, his face even flushed. I don't know if he was embarrassed, or wanted to hit you for going off and was refraining. Both MrNV and I were uncomfortable. Or the day that he sat down on the step in front of our house after working all day, it was dark even. He just got there and you started going off on him for ordering some wall panel before being ready for it... "Wouldn't it have been smart to wait??".. basically calling him stupid. And you'll notice I left. Is that what you feel is 'respect of others'? The way you speak to him? Because I don't. And don't our children learn by example?4. The day we were in your kitchen and C hit A. It was shocking, and we were very uncomfortable. But also, after thinking on it, I think he had reached his limits of the women in his home telling him to shut up.. which is why he hit her. You know, because A wasn't displaying 'respect' for others by telling her father to 'shut up'. Right? And she's how old? And could that have been a learned behavior?5. The day my mother had a garage sale, I had emailed you and asked if A could go over early and help her.. and that I'd pay her. She ended up showing up there around 2pm. She spent the whole time counting my mother's money, which made my mom very uncomfortable. I told her it was OK, she wouldn't steal it. But then A kept telling her what her % would be, and was wanting money. For?? She was actually very pushy about it, and I was embarrassed. She didn't do anything, it was the end of the day. My mother gave her whatever items she wanted that were left at the sale, and even gave her some cash. I know you didn't let her go because you don't know my mom, I completely understand. But for her to still feel she was obligated to be paid?6. Did I complain about A's constant begging for glow sticks when we did go to Easton? Did you say, "A, don't be rude. Don't beg for them." Err, no? But I ignored it, because MB was doing the same thing. No matter that he's 7.. and she's how old?

I have noticed since when we met, to now, that A has suddenly become a teenage drama queen. Which I find amusing and it makes me chuckle. But I will not be the villain in her realm. She chases MB and hits him, and I don't say a thing. But when she's done playing chasey-chasey, then it's all about coming and crying to me. Everything he does, she comes and cries to me about it.. which is why he gets so angry with her. He is jealous, I've told you that already. I know it, and I'm trying to deal with it. But it's not easy for me when I say, "Leave her alone".. then she prances back into the living room and provokes him.

I do discipline MB. Today he isn't allowed to have friends over because of his actions lastnight. We had a long talk about it lastnight. And today, I have read your email to him. He was very upset and cried. And we talked about it, I told him what you said and explained it all to him and how we've talked about him being un-ruly and wild. I appreciate the fact that he does need to respect others. He's an only child, it's a bit tricky for him when he is dumped into the mix of sibling fights, bickering and arguments. He hits A when she's yelling at G. When she's rude to G and tells him, "You're not very funny".. MB stands up to her and says he thinks he is. But I felt it was only fair that he know what the opinions are of him, since you said A knows you're sending this.

I am curious if you have talked with G and asked him about all of this rude behavior MB displays? Does he feel MB is mean to him when A doesn't come down? Is there as much arguing, when A isn't here? Maybe ask G if he likes to come down to play with MB, or if it's because we have XBox? Ask him if there are often times MB is in the office with us, and he is still playing XBox? Or MB is playing legos, and G is watching a movie? I'm not mad. They do play together great, I have zero issues with G. They do also do tons of things together, and do war and are so compatible. But I would prefer a list of "Things I hate about MB' from G, than from A's point of view. But now that I think on it, I don't like when he tells MB he's going to hell for some reason or another. When Z (another boy) was there the other day he and G were going on about Hell and MB felt uncomfortable and came home. He said he didn't want to talk about it, and they wouldn't stop. Was that respectful of others? Or, because it was about the Bible.. there is an exception? And does he behave this way when you take him to church? I would have expected you to say something if he was being selfish AND/OR rude AND/OR displaying lack of respect for others?

I believe there was more to C not going on Saturday, and I don't appreciate you dumping that all on my shoulders. But if that really was the reason, then perhaps you should have respected his dislike of MB being around your perfect kids and stayed home also.You know, I really love you guys and we're going to work this out. But at the same time, you have really hurt my feelings. If your children were perfect, then I wouldn't have issues. I have never complained about them, because they are kids. I expect them to be insane and act crazy and be kids, because that's what they do. I don't believe kids should shut-up and have zero opinion, zero personality and be quiet in the corner. Perhaps you should have a sit down with A and ask her honestly, does MB behave this way without any provocation from you? Because I think if she would actually be honest with herself, she would know that his behavior is often... not always... a reaction to hers.

I don't like your comments that his attitude 'stinks' or that he's selfish. Not coming from a parent. He shares everything he has with your kids. We share everything we have with your family. He lets your kids play with everything we have in this house. He always wants to buy them little gifts, draw them pictures or invite them anywhere we go. If we're going to see a movie, "Can they come?".. or go out to eat, "Can they come?".. always wanting to take you guys anywhere when we have plans. If he were selfish and self-centered, he would not be so giving. This part is going to be very hard for me to get past, just to let you know. I seriously resent that comment. Seriously.

I'm going to need hiatus from your family. I know we will work this out. But I do not appreciate your insinuation that we are bad parents, or that our child is any worse than yours. Because if that really is the way that you feel, then I can completely appreciate that you won't want to see us anymore anyway. And no, I don't need A to scan today. I will take care of it myself. Again, if my house is such a hell to visit .. then obviously she needs a break, too. We can do dinner in a week, after we have all calmed down and thought it all out.

I am feeling better already. It helps when you go through it all and really think about the whole picture. I guess it seems like some sort of silly argument, but it's more than that. You don't speak to friends that way. You enlighten them if you have an issue, but you don't attack the character of their child? Anyway, she replied once more, and then I sent my last email lastnight. I'll finish up and then I'm done with this.

You have obviously taken offense which I guess you will have to work out. If I didn't care I would say nothing and just stop visiting with you. If my kids are unruly or rude I will deal with them. No not by taking away a toy or you can't play. Consequences like the real world. If there is something "that I know about" I'll deal with it. And I don't want them watching TV for hours or Xbox for hours, that is why I will not buy one. And if that is what they are doing at your house that will have to change. I guess that would be another example of a need for limits. And if A said in my presence "what is her percentage?" she would have been corrected and she should have been embarrassed. You should have said something. Whatever her deal was between her and your mom or you whoever worked it out I know nothing about. But I do believe I called to see if she needed to leave and was told "NO.... she is fine". ??? We'll have a talk about that.As far as the email A was sitting next to me this morning as I typed. G knows nothing about it but I guess I will have to explain why he will not be playing with MB for awhile. I guess we will see where this goes. t

I wasn't going to reply, I did want to let it go. But I couldn't stop thinking about what she said. But I won't write anymore. It's just not worth it. You can just only hope that people understand your point of view, and leave it at that.

I was just going to leave it all alone and let myself settle over this. But while washing dishes, it really was eating at me that you could actually say I have 'Obviously taken offence, which I guess YOU will have to work out." How exactly did you expect me to take your email? There is tactful, and then there is rude. I would never speak of your children the way you did of MB. He is SEVEN, T. He hasn't even conquered the English language yet. He's still learning to read and write, and you would actually say the things you did? Let's try it this way, I’ll put your son’s name into the comments you made:

But I do not see you imparting values or respect in him. Respect for other people. G is about G. What G wants. How G feels. He does not have respect for other people or things. He "does not care" and his attitude stinks.

Did you even read that before sending it? Did you put yourself in my shoes and think about how that would make YOU feel if someone said that about YOUR child? You could have simply said that you think I need to work on his jealousy issues with A, and perhaps list out the different times I have not reacted properly. But instead you are attacking the character of a SEVEN YEAR OLD CHILD. What friendship book did you read exactly, that stated that it was OK to insult the child of your friend? You're not mad about how I handle him, you just don't like my child. I used to get mad at W (neighborhood boy), but because he would repeatedly hit MB as hard as he could.. and called me 'stupid' and said 'I hate you' to my face. Yeah, that is un-ruly. But I never said anything to his mother to the extent that you have. Never sent her emails saying I felt her kid's attitude stinks. I did tell her he was grounded from my house for a week for what he said.. I didn't tell her she was pathetic as a parent! And guess what? He has improved a lot. That would be... because he's a CHILD!

And I have no clue what you're talking about, 'Consequences like the real world'. What the fuck is that? You want me to put him in prison? Call 911 every time he offends you? I put him in time out. It does upset him when he can't play with his friends, or use his XBox. And you have NO idea what it is I do or say in my home when you're not here. So don't tell me I'm not raising my child properly. I have heard you tell your kids they can't go out and play because they didn't finish their chores. So it's OK for you to use that as punishment, but not me? Oh, and didn't you say you have to remind them REPEATEDLY to do their rooms? And they still don't clean? And that they'll be watching TV when they were supposed to be doing chores? Wow. Your kids are not showing you respect, T. Perhaps you need more 'real world consequences' up there.Please just drop it. I don't want to get pissed any more than I am. My hiatus includes email. And next time you feel like insulting my family, you might want to listen to your obviously more compassionate daughter when she tells you that I might get mad. And for fun, I think tonight I'll remind my self-centered son that the world does indeed revolve around him, and we'll all watch porn. Because THAT is the type of parent I AM! OBVIOUSLY!

OH, and PS, this is the mother of the perfect boy that shoved Monkey into the wall a while back.. when he had to get stitches in his head in the emergency room. Monkey clearly told me that G shoved him into the wall.. and I heard the whack all the way in my office. That was not tripping or stumbling. Accidents happen, but I didn't DWELL on it and start telling her what a 'hanyat' her son is and how he needs to learn RESPECT FOR OTHERS and not PUSH and SHOVE. Nhoooo, I just told her it was no big deal.. boys will be boys, I didn't want them to feel bad about it at all. Can you imagine if it had been the other way around? And I wonder if she issued any 'real world consequences' for G after he did that? Because I only remember them laughing it off like it was no big deal.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Innocent Me: "Do you think I'm smart enough to change the burner in my PC?"Evil lying Chalice: "Ohhhh, yes. It's super easy. You can do it."Innocent Me: "Really? Do you just remove one and put in the other?"Evil Lying Chalice: "Yup. That's ALL you have to do."Innocent Me: "Great. I'm going to do it then. I think I can handle it."Evil Lying Chalice: "Good luck!!"

I'm quite certain now that when she hung up the phone, she burst into laughter. Maniacal laughter. Because she knows I'm too simple to do such things, and she knew it would turn into a day of chaos for me. Who knows about all these stupid 'Slave' and 'Master' switches? Seriously? And why didn't my new driver have the little words on the back so that I would even realize that there was a difference? Assclowns. I had to have a S-M-R-T friend come over and rescue me. "Ohhhhh, see? You didn't change this one to 'master'"... like I fucking knew. Chalice, I am giving you the bird.. and you know it!

But I bought a cool new burner, it has 'lightscribe'. Did y'all even know that technology existed? Why didn't anyone tell me?? It's going to come in really handy for sending our CD's to distributors... no more of those ugly sticker labels. It burns an image into the disk directly. Tres groovy!

Does anyone know what happened to 'Bird'?? I thought perhaps maybe someone else heard from her and could enlighten me. I hate that she used to be out here giving us a hard time.. then just stopped without any explanation. Y'all aren't allowed to have a life unless you clear it with the rest of us first!

My friend 'Beta' managed to win a $500 box of fireworks.. she's such a lucky girl :) So lastnight she had a shin-dig out in the country and invited everyone out to watch. It was a lot of fun, thank you 'Beta'!! 'Girl Next Door' and her kidlets came too, and so I picked up glow sticks so that we could see them in the dark. And because I just love them.

'Girl Next Door' did her fan dance for me. She was actually wearing those 3D fireworks glasses and enjoying her own psychedelic light show. She wanted to dance around naked, you know how she is :) I thought the end result was very cool, you can see her through the purple fan:

And then I asked Monkey Boy and his friend 'G' to dance around for me. Do you think I could sell these as ghost photos??? :)

This photo was taken of a shell that went off in the sky, but I put the funky 3D glasses over my camera lens. Very cool.

Friday, July 07, 2006

I have a headache today, so I'm just sitting here trying to not be a total wanker to live with. I can see my son and one of his friends chase Roscoe the dog around the back yard, and it is very funny. He's such an awesome dog, and plays great with the kids!

But I was reading Softball Sluts blog, and found her post amusing.. and thought I'd do it to. These are her instructions:

Go to Wikipedia and look up your birthday (by putting my birth month and day in the Search box), then list the events and other things of note, specifically…List three events that happened on your birthday.List two important birthdays and one interesting death.One holiday or observance (if any).

My birthday is February 9th, and it was a lot of fun to read the events! But, I had to stick to the rules .. and these were my results:

1 Important Death:1555 - Rowland Taylor, English pastor (executed) (b. 1510) (They executed a pastor? Man, that's just not right at all.. somebody is burning in Hell)

1 Holiday:Saint Apollonia, patron saint of dentists and dental technicians (Very funny, because I would rather have open heart surgery than visit a dentist. I actually do shots of whiskey before going just so that I can sit through my visits)

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

I guess we had our own little RAVE party lastnight... er... for children? I do so love the dollar store in our area. Everything, not just some stuff, is $1. Really. It's true. And you can stock-pile on glow sticks. And I do :) I thought it would be best to make sure we could see the kids in the dark lastnight.. but I didn't think about how cool the end result would look. Of course the photos wouldn't come out, but it was wonderful fun watching 6 kids running around GLOWING! They had necklaces and bracelets. Flashing lights.. all sorts of alien madness. At the end of the night, Monkey did some spinning for me so I could play with the camera. It was a lot of fun. I would laugh every time he would start swinging his arms and dancing around.

Today we were running errands. Well, visiting doctors and SPECIALISTS. Men. Do they ever grow up? Perhaps I'll explain later when I'm not so ANGRY :) But I handed Mr something and he was supposed to shake it.. don't know what it was. And I was telling him, "Shake it.. shake it".. and in the back seat I hear ... "Like a rolapoid picture..."

Aaaaaaaahhahahahahha! Man! I just love that kid :) Now I will never hear that song in my head the same way.

Monday, July 03, 2006

My husband is a bit of a fan of things that go 'bang'. Well, that go 'BANG!!!!!' would be more like it. He's been conjuring up explosions as long as he can remember, and has the scars and lack of hearing to prove it. But I keep him around anyway.. because he has life insurance :) My brother calls him MacGyver. He could definitely create an explosive using bottled water, lipstick and a Q-tip :) There are many 'things' not photographed here .. for your own safety :) However, other than being incredibly loud.. the 'things' he makes now are completely safe. Nothing will blow up and fly at you. One year he used, um, things which were not liquid.. and 33+ gallon trash bags. Some fuses.. other items.. and BWAAOOOOOMMMMMMM!!! The sound wave? actually shredded the leaves on the tree.. it was bizarre.

I'm sure many will say, 'too much' but I'm also sure that there are others that will say 'That's all?"... I like to think we're in the middle there somewhere :) We just love fireworks. I love fountains and all of the beautiful floral shells that light up the sky. We used to buy display class fireworks.. until the laws were tightened. As long as you had an address outside of city limits, you could get them easily. But, most of the display class fireworks my husband would buy were the 'salutes'. The super incredibly loud ones which blow up with the prettier ones? No color, just ground thumping noise. And of course, he didn't shoot them into the sky, he shot them across fields or just blew them up on the ground. Did I mention my father's rocket launcher?? Oh, and that he's deaf in one ear.. too??

So Monkey Boy is in high gear. His Nana and Grandpa gave him $30 to spend on fireworks, so he was in hog heaven yesterday. He wanted everything on display today so that he could get himself even more worked up and excited.. so I thought I'd share a pic :) And yes, we keep him a safe distance and he's getting goggles today. We're insane.. but we're not stupid :)

Too Much Information..

Just to clarify, my blog name does not indicate I am some sort of deviant. In discovering some blogs, I sort of felt like I was peeping in on people's personal lives... so I wanted to clarify.
Naughty: Behaving mischievously.
Voyeur: An obsessive observer of sordid or sensational subjects.
Not pervo sex freak :)